Definition of Intergovernmental Relations
Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) can be seen as important interactions between government levels in a country. Intergovernmental relations are large systems in which local, state, and national organizations work together.
Challenges of Intergovernmental Relations
In Nigeria, there are 36 states and there is also a special federal territory (FCT or Federal Capital Territory). Each state has its own local government. Also, do not forget about the special powers: Parliament, Executive, and Judiciary. Inside them, there are even tiny units. We have an enormous network.
In such a case, intergovernmental relations will be very difficult and premature. Although there are mechanisms in place in Nigeria, these government departments can connect.
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Some major challenges of intergovernmental relations are:
- Adherence to the Constitution
The inability of government levels to comply with the directives of the Constitution degenerates into conflict, which poses a challenge to intergovernmental relations. Lack of constitutional compliance promotes manipulation and confusion between state and local governments.
To avoid this, they must cooperate without conflict of jurisdiction issues.
- Merged Account
Local government allocations must be in a merged account to be distributed by the federal government and overseen by the National Assembly, in the absence of which conflicts arise in intergovernmental relations.
- Financial Frauds
Again, we are back to the problem of corruption in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the problem is compounded by financial fraud in both the federal government and the state government.
At the local level, we can also notice this problem, but its level is not as big because of budget cuts by top officials.
How to stop it? By enforcing powerful control over government activities and budget management.
In fact, before this, we face stiff resistance from officials who appear to be entangled in corrupt schemes.
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But it’s not a big deal when we have support from the public. Financial Abuse Intergovernmental relationships can seem like a barroom conflict for money.
- Congestion in the Government System
Perhaps the real challenges of the IGR and the reason for the complexities in Nigeria lie in many ministries, offices, policies, etc. It’s no secret; there are a lot of ministries, advisers, advisers to advisors, and so on.
We can suggest a solution to this problem, cut off the extra ones, reduce costs, and simplify the state system.
- Lack of Control Over Government Units
Another obvious thing about the Nigerian state system and its relations is the complete ignorance of the fundamental rule for democratic government. This rule is called the “check and balance system”.
The thing is, each level of government representative observes and inspects the activities of another. This means that all level actions have checks on each other.
The processes by which they perform often these constitutional functions lead to conflicts at these levels of government.
- Federal System of Government
Federal government policy gives states a lot of independence. They exist and operate with minimal intervention from the center.
This means that whether we like it, there is always a situation where states create state reform of certain government agencies and laws; Design their own policies; Reject some federal government policies.
Therefore, as long as there is true federalism, as long as we want sensitive intergovernmental relations, the IGR may not always be as sensitive as we would like.
- Loyalty to Political Parties
As a multi-party state, the president and state governors may belong to different political parties. In party politics, it is a clear fact all over the world that government office holders are always loyal to their political parties.
Even in some of the most developed democracies in the world, party loyalty often comes first; Members of the various parties in government do not readily accept any issue.
In Nigeria this is one of the great problems of IGR, we have seen state governors from different parties clearly come together with one voice, resource ideas, staff, and time together to fight a threat or support a course.
The purpose of the country. What do politicians do to exchange words and blame political parties on each other?
What is the result of our short and unpleasant research? It is very simple: the main challenges of intergovernmental relations are usually about the problems in the state machinery.
Also, IGR can be improved, but it is not always sensitive.
